System and method for leveraging procurement across companies and company groups

ABSTRACT

A leveraged procurement network (LPN) system for leveraging purchasing across company and company groups includes a front-end requisition and catalog system accessible by users from a plurality of companies in different company groups. Access to procurement resources is controlled by user profiles and resource profiles specifying for each user and resource the applicable company group. Purchases against volume specific contracts are leveraged by requisitions for a plurality of company groups, while user access to procurement resources within the front-end system are controlled by company and/or company group.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

[0001] The following U.S. patent applications, filed concurrently orotherwise copending, are assigned to the assignee hereof and containsubject matter related, in certain respect, to the subject matter of thepresent application.

[0002] Ser. No. 09/657,215, filed Sep. 7, 2000, entitled “System andMethod for Clustering Servers for Performance and Load Balancing”,assignee docket END9-2000-0104-US1;

[0003] Ser. No. 09/657,216, filed Sep. 7, 2000, entitled “System andMethod for Front End Business Logic and Validation”, assignee docketEND9-2000-0105-US1;

[0004] Ser. No. 09/657,217, filed Sep. 7, 2000, entitled “System andMethod for Data Transfer With Respect to External Applications”,assignee docket END9-2000-0106-US1;

[0005] Ser. No. 09/656,037, filed Sep. 7, 2000, entitled “System andMethod for Providing a Relational Database Backend”, assignee docketEND9-2000-0107-US1;

[0006] Ser. No. 09/656,803, filed Sep. 7, 2000, entitled “System andMethod for Providing a Role Table GUI via Company Group”, assigneedocket END9-2000-0108-US1;

[0007] Ser. No. 09/656,967, filed Sep. 7, 2000, entitled “System andMethod for Populating HTML Forms Using Relational Database Agents”,assignee docket END9-2000-0109-US1;

[0008] Ser. No. 09/657,196, filed Sep. 7, 2000, entitled “System andMethod for Catalog Administration Using Supplier Provided Flat Files”,assignee docket END9-2000-0110-US1; and

[0009] Ser. No. 09/657,195, filed Sep. 7, 2000, entitled “System andMethod for Providing an Application Navigator Client Menu Side Bar”,assignee docket END9-2000-0111-US1.

[0010] Ser. No. 09/______ , entitled “SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR AUTOMATINGINVOICE PROCESSING WITH POSITIVE CONFIRMATION”, assignee docket numberEND9 2000 0165 US1.

[0011] Ser. No. 09/______ , entitled “SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR GENERATING ACOMPANY GROUP USER PROFILE”, assignee docket number END9 2000 0166 US1.

[0012] Ser. No. 09/______ , entitled “SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR SHARING DATAACROSS FRAMES USING ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES”, assignee docket number END92000 0167 US1.

[0013] Ser. No. 09/______ , entitled “SYSTEM AND METHOD FORSYNCHRONIZING LEDGER ACCOUNTS BY COMPANY GROUP”, assignee docket numberEND9 2000 0168 US1.

[0014] Ser. No. 09/______ , entitled “SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR GROUPINGCOMPANIES ACCORDING TO ACCOUNTING SYSTEM OR RULES”, assignee docketnumber END9 2000 0169 US1.

[0015] Ser. No. 09/______ , entitled “SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR FRAMESTORAGE OF EXECUTABLE CODE”, assignee docket number END9 2000 0174 US1.

[0016] Ser. No. 09/______ , entitled “SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR INVOICEIMAGING THROUGH NEGATIVE CONFIRMATION PROCESS”, assignee docket numberEND9 2000 0175 US1.

[0017] Ser. No. 09/______ , entitled “SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR PROCESSINGTAX CODES BY COMPANY GROUP”, assignee docket number END9 2000 0177 US1.

[0018] Ser. No. 09/______ , filed Mar. 2, 2001, entitled “SYSTEM ANDMETHOD FOR MANAGING INTERNET TRADING NETWORKS”, assignee docket numberEND9 2000 0178 US1.

[0019] The above-identified patent applications are incorporated hereinby reference.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

[0020] 1. Technical Field of the Invention

[0021] This invention pertains to a requisition and catalog system. Moreparticularly, it relates to a leveraged procurement network (LPN) systemfor leveraging purchasing across company and company groups.

[0022] 2. Background Art

[0023] Previously, an enterprise company provided procurement servicesto a customer company. The back end system for supporting theseprocurement services is bridged to a front end requisition and catalogsystem (Req/Cat Web, or RCW server) with which users from the customercompany would interface to view a catalog of commodities and/or servicesand enter requisition requests.

[0024] When the enterprise company provides such procurement services tomore than one customer company, it has heretofore been required torewrite the front end system to accommodate the accounting rulesrequired to support the procurement activities of each additionalcompanies. This is time consuming and complex. There is, therefore, aneed in the art to provide a system and method whereby an enterprise mayprovide procurement services to a plurality of customer companies usingthe same front end requisition and catalog system for them all.

[0025] However, the data and accounting for one customer company must beisolated from viewing or use by other customer companies.

[0026] The Internet provides exchange mechanisms where suppliers bringgoods and services to be offered and malls for shoppers to obtain them.These exchange mechanisms are largely independent with a single companyselling and an individual from another company shopping. Generally, ifcompanies wish to partner to gain advantage either from consolidatingpurchase volumes to obtain better prices or from creating a completepalette of business goods and services to establish a ‘one stop shop’,many individual relations are established and managed independently.Manual integration of systems to ensure members rights andresponsibilities are met increase the bureaucracy and paperwork. Shoulda company endeavor to participate or host multiple trading networks, themembership management becomes very difficult.

[0027] There is, therefore, a need in the art for a system and methodwhereby an enterprise may leverage purchases by a plurality of customercompanies for which it is providing procurement services against acommon contract having volume specific terms and conditions.

[0028] It is an object of the invention to provide an improved systemand method for procuring goods and services on behalf of customercompanies.

[0029] It is a further object of the invention to provide a system andmethod for leveraging purchases of goods and services against the samevolume specific contract by a plurality of unrelated customer companies.

[0030] It is a further object of the invention to provide a system andmethod for providing procurement services to a plurality of companiesorganized according to groups of related companies sharing access toselected resources across company groups and access to other resourcesonly within company groups.

[0031] It is a further object of the invention to provide a system andmethod for leveraging purchasing across company groups while isolatinginformation to individual company groups.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

[0032] A system and method for providing procurement services to aplurality of customer companies, the method including the steps ofestablishing a user profile for each person authorized by a customercompany to access procurement services; associating each company with acompany group of related companies; the user profile specifying for eachuser a user company and company group; providing for each procurementresource to be shared among users a resource profile specifying for eachresource those companies to have access to the procurement resource; andresponsive to the user profile and resource profiles, controlling useraccess to the procurement resources.

[0033] In accordance with an aspect of the invention, there is provideda computer program product configured to be operable for providingprocurement services to a plurality of customer companies.

[0034] Other features and advantages of this invention will becomeapparent from the following detailed description of the presentlypreferred embodiment of the invention, taken in conjunction with theaccompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0035]FIG. 1 is a high level system diagram illustrating an enterprisesystem for providing procurement services with respect to a plurality ofvendors on behalf of a plurality of company groups of related customercompanies in accorance with the preferred embodiment of the invention.

[0036]FIG. 2 is a high level system diagram illustrating the LPNapplication architecture of the preferred embodiment of the invention.

[0037]FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating the inputs and outputs of thecustomer requisition catalog (RCW) component of the architecture of FIG.2.

[0038]FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating, inter alia, the inputs andoutputs of the enterprise EDI translator 44 of the architecture of FIG.2.

[0039]FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating the inputs and outputs of theenterprise procurement services system 42 of the architecture of FIG. 2.

[0040]FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating the inputs and outputs of theenterprise procurement services hub server of the architecture of FIG.2.

[0041]FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating the use of user profiles andresource and process profiles in accordance with the preferredembodiment of the invention.

[0042]FIG. 8 is a diagram illustrating the creation and maintenance of auser profile.

[0043]FIG. 9 is a diagram illustrating the content of a user profile.

[0044]FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating the content of a resource orprocess profile.

[0045]FIG. 11 is a diagram illustrating the content of a catalog.

[0046]FIG. 12 is a diagram illustrating the leveraging of contractpurchases across company groups.

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION

[0047] In accordance with the preferred embodiments of the invention, afront end order system, such as a procurement catalog and requisitionsystem, is enabled to accommodate multiple business with complexaccounting rules while providing secure information viewing in supportof those businesses and their processes. Companies having commonownership, and therefore similar accounting systems, are grouped inprocurement coalitions for volume discounts or access to sharedcontracts. Such contracts and other resources may also be leveragedacross company groups.

[0048] Referring to FIG. 1, the procurement services organization of anenterprise 244 provides procurement services to a plurality of companies248, 249 organized in a plurality of company groups 241-243 with respectto a plurality of vendors 245-247.

[0049] Referring to FIG. 2, the architecture of system componentsadministered by enterprise 244 includes a customer requisition andcatalog (ReqCatWeb, or RCW) system 40, an enterprise procurementservices system (SAP) 42, an enterprise data interchange, or EDItranslator system 44, an enterprise (LPN) hosted data warehouse 50, anenterprise procurement hub server 52. Also illustrated in FIG. 2 are acustomer requester web terminal 46 and vendors 48.

[0050] ReqCatWeb 40 is a front-end interface between the user and theprocurement system, providing access to catalogs and commodities, toorder the day-to-day items required for the business.

[0051] SAP 42 is the back-end purchasing engine of the enterprise, suchas is supported by IBM, accepting the requisitions from the front-endReqCatWeb 40, and generating EDI transactions, as well as the accountingtransactions for the requisitions, etc.

[0052] EDI (Electronic Data Interchange) 44 is an application thatinteracts with suppliers by sending standardized transactions forpurchase orders, receiving invoices, etc.

[0053] LPN Hosted DataWarehouse 50 is a data-warehouse facility forstoring all transactions that occur in the system; used as a tool formonitoring transactions and gathering statistics.

[0054] Hub Server 52 is a back-end processing server for transferringdata between elements (that is, servers) of the system.

[0055] Customer ERP System 54 is a back-end purchasing system assupported by the customer.

[0056] Referring to FIG. 3, the inputs to customer RCW system 40 fromprocurement services system 42 include requisition status 41, purchaseorder (PO) status and contracts 43, cost centers 45, currency exchangerates 47, general ledger (G/L) accounts 49, PO history invoices 53, POhistory receipts 55, and confirmations 56. The outputs from customer RCWsystem 40 to procurement services system 42 include requisitions 51 andpositive confirmation responses 57.

[0057] The inputs to customer RCW system 40 from a customer requesterbrowser 46 include submit requisition, and outputs from system 40 tobrowser 46 include approval/rejection notice 62, status display 63, andnegative/positive/INR confirmation. Notice and response data 65 isexchanged between RCW system 40 and browser 46.

[0058] Other inputs to RCW system 40 include vendor catalogs 73 fromvendors 245-247 via enterprise EDI translator 44, postal code validationdata 74 from an enterprise RCW system (not shown), and human resourceextract data 70 from enterprise hub server 52. RCW system 40 alsoprovides approval notices 72 and receives approve/reject data 71 withrespect to customer approvers.

[0059] Referring to FIG. 4, enterprise procurement services system 42receives as inputs from customer RCW system 40 requisitions 51 andpositive confirmation responses 57, and provides to customer RCW system40 requisition status data, purchase order status and contracts data 43,cost center data 45, currency exchange rates 47, G/L accounts 49, POhistory invoices 53, PO history receipts 55, and confirmations 56.

[0060] Inputs to procurement services system 42 from hub server 52include cost center data 79, and outputs to hub server 52 include BDWextracts, company process control table 76, vendor master updates 77,and accounting detail 78.

[0061] Inputs to procurement services system 42 from enterprise EDItranslator 44 include IDOC PO acknowledgment 88, IDOC invoices 89, IDOCpayment status 92 and file transfer check reconstruction 93. Outputs toEDI translator include IDOC PO 87, IDOC invoice rejection 90 and IDOCpayments 91.

[0062] Inputs to enterprise procurement services system 42 from SAPoperator terminals include process PO's, RFQ, and contracts data 81,create/change vendor master data 82, invoice processing 83 (which is oneinput to a general procurement invoicing function within procurementservices system 42), payment proposal data 84, and payment post andprint 85. Also input to procurement services system 42 is currencyexchange rate data 80 from an external financial services server (notshown) via an enterprise currency exchange rates server (not shown), andoutput from procurement services system 42 to vendors 48 are paper orfax PO documents 86.

[0063] Referring to FIG. 5, inputs to enterprise EDI translator 44 fromprocurement services system 42 include IDOC PO 87 and IDOC invoicereject 90, and outputs to SAP system 42 include IDOC PO acknowledge 88,IDOC invoice 89, IDOC payments 91, IDOC payment status 92 and filetransfer check reconstruction 93.

[0064] Inputs to enterprise EDI translator 44 from vendor 48 include POacknowledge 95 and invoice 96, and outputs to vendor 48 include purchaseorder 94 and invoice reject 97. EDI translator also receives payments 32from source 32 and provides payments to customer EDI translator 30. Bank32 provides cashed checks and payment status to EDI translator 44.Vendor 48 provides goods shipments 35 to customer receiving 34, andreceives back goods returns 36. Vendor 48 receives paper or faxpurchasing documents 37 from SAP 42, and provides paper invoices 38 toenterprise accounts payable for invoice processing 83 at SAP 42.

[0065] Referring to FIG. 6, enterprise procurement services hub server52 receives as inputs from procurement system 42 BDW extracts 75,company process control table 76, vendor master updates 77 andaccounting detail 78, and provides cost centers data 79 (which itreceives from customer ERP system 54.) Hub server 52 provides humanresource extract data 70, extracted from customer employee data 60, tocustomer RCW system 40.

[0066] Hub server 52 provides to customer ERP system 54 vendor masterdata 26, invoice detail 27, payment detail 28 and blank clearing detaildata 29, and receives cost centers data 25. Customer ERP system 54 alsoreceives goods receipts 66 from customer receiving 34.

[0067] Hub server 52 provides BDW extracts 58 to data warehouse 50.

[0068] The operation and inter relationships of elements of thearchitecture of FIGS. 2-b6 pertinent to the present invention will bedescribed hereafter in connection with preferred and exemplaryembodiments of the systems and methods of the invention.

[0069] In accordance with the preferred embodiments of the invention, afront end order system, such as a procurement catalog and requisitionsystem 40, is rendered enabled to accommodate multiple businesses 248,249 with complex accounting rules while providing secure informationviewing in support of those businesses and their processes. Companieshaving common ownership, and therefore similar accounting systems, aregrouped in procurement coalitions 242 for volume discounts and access toshared contracts. Procurement contracts may also be leveraged acrosscompany groups 243, 242.

[0070] Both leveraging access and maintaining isolation of data is doneby identifying a user at log on as associated with a company group. Thatassociation then dictates what the user can see and do.

[0071] With respect to catalogs, for example, a vendor sends his catalogin across the firewall to the EDI electronic data interchange. The RCWapplication loads it into the catalog. Users can come in to RCW,authorized by their user profile, from several company groups usingcommon catalog—none knowing that the other uses it or has access toknowledge of requisitions applied against its line items. SAP assemblesrequisitions from all these users, and cuts purchase orders periodicallyfor those requisitions from the same company group. By identifying thoserequisitions to a particular contract, volume specific terms andconditions, for example, are leverage on behalf of the companies andcompany groups. Catalogs are, in the preferred embodiment, controlled atthe company level because this allows easier support of regionalcatalogs.

[0072] With respect to accounting, by driving accounting by companygroup, a user in one company within the company group may, for example,charge purchase to a user account in another company within the samecompany group.

[0073] Referring to FIG. 7, the system of the preferred embodiment ofthe invention includes a plurality of companies 450-452 are associatedin company groups 242 and 243, requisition and catalog system 40, andprocurement services system (SAP) 42. Associated with this system is adata interchange system 44, one of several possible communication pathswith a plurality of vendors 246, 247. A company group may include one ormore companies. Data interchange system 44 includes mail boxes 455, 456.

[0074] Users 450-452 are persons authorized by their respectivecompanies to access requisition and catalog system 40. Requisition andcatalog system 40 includes a user profile table 384 and a plurality ofresources, shown here as catalogs 465, 476 and contract 469. Otherexamples of such resources include cost centers (that is, departmentsthat can be charged), general ledger (G/L) account codes (that is, chartof accounts (COA)), user profile table 384 entries, business rules anddefaults (such as those affiliated with accounting, specifying thefields that must be completed, for example, in creating a requisitionand default data to be entered in those fields). All of these aregenerically referred to as procurement resources, and include processrequirements and data resources accessible only to those usersidentified in their profiles as members of a particular company and,therefore, company group. (A company code will have a company group codeassociated with it.)

[0075] Referring to FIG. 9, user profile 384 includes, for each user,company group code, company code, plant code (that is, ship tolocation), employee serial number, E-mail address, and much more (notpertinent to the present invention.)

[0076] Referring to FIG. 8, an exemplary system for creating andmaintaining user profile table 384 is shown. A plurality of relatedcompanies 59, 59A are connected to a hub server which includes a companygroup human resources file. Hub server is connected through fire wall372 to a requisition and catalog (ReqCatWeb, or RCW) application server376. RCW server 374 includes a company group HR file, a staging tablebuild application 378 and a new employee profile build application 382for building employee profile table 384. Applications 402, 404 arelogically connected to database server 388, which includes staging table380, user profile table 384, and plant code table 386.

[0077] Connected to an RCW web server 390 deployed to customer companiesthrough extra net 394 is a browser operable by a user for accessing acatalog (not shown) maintained by the enterprise, and for submitting tothe enterprise requisitions for purchase of commodities and servicesagainst the accounts of a customer company. In exemplary embodiment,extra net 394 may be a secure network, such as a frame relay networkconnection, or a secure protocol on the world wide web.

[0078] The method for creating and maintaining user profile table 384 isfurther described in copending application S/N ______, assignee docketEND9 2000 0166 US1.

[0079] Referring to FIG. 10 in connection with FIG. 7, associated witheach company group resource 465, 467, 469 is a resource profile 466,468, 470, respectively, containing a list, in the case of a catalogprofile 466, of those companies, each associated with a company group,authorized to access catalog 465. This list may be maintained also at anitem 471, 472 level.

[0080] As a user 451 logs in, his profile 461 code fields 482 and 481,respectively, will associate him with a given company 248 in a companygroup 242. When he clicks on shop-from-a-catalog button on his browser,catalog application code displays only those catalogs 465, 467 for whichthe profile 466, 468 includes his company in list 487 (this is atcompany level).

[0081] Other data that is similarly protected (other than catalogs), forexample, include contracts 469, cost centers (departments that can becharged—a user can charge across companies 248, 249 in a company group,but not across company groups 243, 242), user profiles 384 (a user 451may be able to initiate requests for other users 452—using button“change requester”, which will bring up people in his company group, ifconfigured to allow it.) More of examples of resources protected byresource profiles 465 are accounting GL accounts codes that areassociated with commodity codes by company group. Business rulesassociated with that accounting that are company group specific—andinclude accounting business rule defaults, such as fields required to befilled out based on what is being bought.

[0082] A given catalog 465 may, as controlled by catalog profile 466, beassociated with more than one company within more than one companygroup. Business rules may require a user in a particular company groupto buy from a particular catalog or catalogs, and such user will onlysee those catalogs associated with his company group. Information andresources are isolated to users by company group by associating companygroup with each data item that exists in the various data files and codeprocedures (for which such isolation is required).

[0083] Vendors 246, 247 may transmit catalog information to theirrespective catalogs 467, 469 via EDI mailbox 455.

[0084] Req/Cat Web server 40 assembles requisitions from users in allcompany groups and transfers these to procurement services system 42,which issues purchase orders to vendors 246, 247 for orders againsttheir catalog. Invoices back from vendors 246, 247 are sent, in thisexample, back to SAP 42 via EDI 44 mailbox 456.

[0085] Referring to FIG. 12, the manner in which purchases from users indifferent company groups are leveraged to achieve volume related costswith respect to leveraged contract 480 is described. As is representedby lines 61, users 450, 451 from different company groups may, inaccordance with user profiles and catalog profile 466, as previouslydiscussed, issue requisition requests against the same line item 471 incatalog 465. Other requests may be entered with respect ot other items472. These requisition requests are transferred, as represented by lines51, to SAP 42. SAP 42 periodically (say, hourly or daily) cuts purchaseorders 474, 475 to vendor 246, with separate purchase orders forrequisition requests from each company group. Invoices 478, 479 arereturned to SAP 42 and bridged to RCW 40 for confirmation processingprior to payment. Negative or positive confirmation processing isexecuted by Req/Cat Web server, as is more fully described in copendingapplication S/N's ______ and ______ , assignee dockets END9 2000 0165US1 and END9 2000 0175 US1, respectively, with separate confirmationrequests sent to users in different company groups—this, again,providing information segregation and protection. However, volumecommitments against contract 480 are leveraged by purchase orders fromall company groups having access to items in vendor 246 catalog 465.

[0086] Similarly, buys against contract 469 (for example, a blanketpurchase order for services from a vendor 247) may be leveraged bycompany group.

[0087] In this way, the preferred embodiments of the invention isolateinformation and processing required across multiple company groups byusing profiles (user profile and resource and process profiles such ascontract and catalog profiles). There is a profile provided for everyelement, resource, procedure, data, line item, G/L account—everything ofany kind for which leveraging and isolation is to be achieved acrosscompany groups.

Advantages Over the Prior Art

[0088] It is an advantage of the invention that there is provided animproved system and method for procuring goods and services on behalf ofcustomer companies.

[0089] It is a further advantage of the invention that there is provideda system and method for leveraging purchases of goods and servicesagainst the same volume specific contract by a plurality of unrelatedcustomer companies.

[0090] It is a further advantage of the invention that there is provideda system and method for providing procurement services to a plurality ofcompanies organized according to groups of related companies sharingaccess to selected resources across company groups and access to otherresources only within company groups.

[0091] It is a further advantage of the invention that there is provideda system and method for leveraging purchasing across company groupswhile isolating information to individual company groups.

Alternative Embodiments

[0092] It will be appreciated that, although specific embodiments of theinvention have been described herein for purposes of illustration,various modifications may be made without departing from the spirit andscope of the invention. In particular, it is within the scope of theinvention to provide a computer program product or program element, or aprogram storage or memory device such as a solid or fluid transmissionmedium, magnetic or optical wire, tape or disc, or the like, for storingsignals readable by a machine, for controlling the operation of acomputer according to the method of the invention and/or to structureits components in accordance with the system of the invention.

[0093] Further, each step of the method may be executed on any generalcomputer, such as an IBM System 390, AS/400, PC or the like and pursuantto one or more, or a part of one or more, program elements, modules orobjects generated from 10 any programming language, such as C++, Java,Java Script, Pl/1, Fortran or the like. And still further, each saidstep, or a file or object or the like implementing each said step, maybe executed by special purpose hardware or a circuit module designed forthat purpose.

[0094] Accordingly, the scope of protection of this invention is limitedonly by the following claims and their equivalents.

We claim:
 1. A method for providing procurement services to a pluralityof customer companies, comprising the steps of: establishing a userprofile for each person authorized by a customer company to access saidprocurement services; associating each said company with a company groupof related companies; said user profile specifying for each said user auser company and company group; providing for each procurement resourceto be shared among said users a resource profile specifying for eachresource those said companies to have access to said procurementresource; and responsive to said user profile and said resourceprofiles, controlling user access to said procurement resources.
 2. Themethod of claim 1, further comprising the step of providing saidprocurement resources in a front-end catalog and requisition server. 3.The method of claim 2, further comprising the steps of: receiving a userrequest from a first client browser to log in to said front-end server;responsive to said request, providing a user interface at said clientbrowser only to procurement resources authorized by said user profileand said resource profiles.
 4. The method of claim 2, further comprisingthe steps of: receiving requests from a plurality of users authorized bydifferent company groups to enter a requisition to a vendor with respectto the same catalog or contract resource; and generating separatepurchase orders to said vendor with respect to requisitions originatingwith users from each said company group.
 5. The method of claim 4,further comprising the steps of: leveraging procurement buys from aplurality of company groups with respect to the same volume specificcontract for goods or services.
 6. The method of claim 2, furthercomprising the steps of: allowing said user to apply procurement chargesto charge centers only within his company group.
 7. The method of claim3, said procurement resources including a vendor catalog.
 8. The methodof claim 3, said procurement resources including a blanket orderprocurement contract for goods or services.
 9. The method of claim 3,said procurement resources including a user profile table.
 10. Themethod of claim 3, said procurement resources including costs centers.11. The method of claim 3, said procurement resources includingaccounting general ledger codes with company group specific accountingrules and defaults.
 12. System for providing procurement services to aplurality of customer companies, comprising: a front end server; a userprofile for each person authorized by a customer company to access saidprocurement services; each said company associated with a company groupof related companies; said user profile specifying for each said user auser company and company group; a plurality of procurement resources tobe shared among said users; a resource profile for each said procurementresource specifying those said companies to have access to saidprocurement resource; and said user profile and said resource profilesfor controlling user access to said procurement resources.
 13. Thesystem of claim 12, said procurement resources further comprising:vendor catalog; a blanket order procurement contract for goods orservices; and a table of user profiles.
 14. The system of claim 12, saidprocurement resources further comprising: costs centers; and accountinggeneral ledger codes with company group specific accounting rules anddefaults.
 15. A program storage device readable by a machine, tangiblyembodying a program of instructions executable by a machine to performmethod steps for providing procurement services to a plurality ofcustomer companies, said method steps comprising: establishing a userprofile for each person authorized by a customer company to access saidprocurement services; associating each said company with a company groupof related companies; said user profile specifying for each said user auser company and company group; providing for each procurement resourceto be shared among said users a resource profile specifying for eachresource those said companies to have access to said procurementresource; and responsive to said user profile and said resourceprofiles, controlling user access to said procurement resources.
 16. Theprogram storage device of claim 15, said method steps further comprisingproviding said procurement resources in a front-end catalog andrequisition server.
 17. The program storage device of claim 16, saidmethod steps further comprising the steps of: receiving a user requestfrom a first client browser to log in to said front-end server;responsive to said request, providing a user interface at said clientbrowser only to procurement resources authorized by said user profileand said resource profiles.
 18. The program storage device of claim 16,said method steps further comprising the steps of: receiving requestsfrom a plurality of users authorized by different company groups toenter a requisition to a vendor with respect to the same catalog orcontract resource; and generating separate purchase orders to saidvendor with respect to requisitions originating with users from eachsaid company group.
 19. The program storage device of claim 18, saidmethod steps further comprising the steps of: leveraging procurementbuys from a plurality of company groups with respect to the same volumespecific contract for goods or services.
 20. The program storage deviceof claim 16, said method steps further comprising the steps of: allowingsaid user to apply procurement charges to charge centers only within hiscompany group.
 21. The program storage device of claim 17, saidprocurement resources including a vendor catalog.
 22. The programstorage device of claim 17, said procurement resources including ablanket order procurement contract for goods or services.
 23. Theprogram storage device of claim 17, said procurement resources includinga user profile table.
 24. The program storage device of claim 17, saidprocurement resources including costs centers.
 25. The program storagedevice of claim 17, said procurement resources including accountinggeneral ledger codes with company group specific accounting rules anddefaults.
 26. A computer program product or computer program element forproviding procurement services to a plurality of customer companiesaccording to method steps comprising: establishing a user profile foreach person authorized by a customer company to access said procurementservices; associating each said company with a company group of relatedcompanies; said user profile specifying for each said user a usercompany and company group; providing for each procurement resource to beshared among said users a resource profile specifying for each resourcethose said companies to have access to said procurement resource; andresponsive to said user profile and said resource profiles, controllinguser access to said procurement resources.